Friday, September 15, 2017

Okay, so here’s a neat idea. Did you know that even though a cavity may
start to form in your mouth, there are ways to reverse that decay?
Pretty cool, huh?! It’s possible. And, it’s neat as heck. We’ll tell you
about it. There are also these little cells called odontoblasts
(doesn’t that sound like it’s something from Star Wars!?) … yeah, and
they lay down this layer of protection against approaching cavities like
it’s a battle, and … Wait! Grab the kids so they can learn too!

Your teeth are pretty amazing. They’re also exceedingly good at
“recognizing” their importance in your life. Teeth allow are critical
for sustenance, to the structure of your face, and in the ability to
interact with others with a smile. It’s no wonder then, your pearly
whites like to take care of themselves – all the way to the cellular
level … to the Odontoblasts!

A Look at Odontoblasts

Odontoblasts are columnar cells that live in our teeth along the border between the pulp and the dentin.
One of their main roles is to continually secrete fresh dentin to allow
our teeth remain strong and healthy. Remember, your teeth are living
sensory organs, so these little cells are at it all the time. They’re
also very proactive when a cavity begins to encroaching on its
territory.

When a cavity progresses to the degree that it threatens the integrity
of the pulpal chamber (which would require root canal treatment),
Odonotoblasts feverishly get to work laying down additional layers of
dentin to protect the pulpal chamber. To get a feel for what this might
look like, imagine a cavity driving down straight from the top of your
tooth, aiming straight for the pulpal chamber in the middle of your
tooth. The Odontoblasts (along with nearby stem cells),
recognizing this impending attack essentially throw up their “shields”
(dentin), in an effort to stay safe. This reduces the overall height of
the pulpal chamber ever so minimally, but enough to protect the chamber.
This is one good reason why you don’t want to ignore tooth pain … jeez,
those little Odontoblasts are trying to protect you for all their worth
… help them out and see the dentist!

What about Reversing Tooth Decay?

Tooth decay is progressive. It can also be reversed, IF you catch it
early enough. And, in this scenario your two best allies are your
dentist, and fluoride.
Let’s take a quick look at fluoride. This mineral’s role when it comes
to your teeth, is teaming up with calcium and phosphate to strengthen
the enamel through the process of remineralization. When fluoride is
added to the calcium and phosphate ions that exist in our saliva, and
that we also get from food, the three combine to form a mineral known
as fluorapitite.
This mineral is then transported by our saliva into the “pores” of our
teeth, effectively making our enamel harder than it would be by nature.
Why is this important? Because tooth decay happens slowly, and in its
first stage, the damage it’s beginning to inflict can be stopped or reversed with the assistance of fluorapitite.

In this first stage of a cavity’s development, a cavity appear on the
surface of the enamel as a white spot. They’re often visible to a
dentist, and will show up on an X-ray. Again, they don’t show up
overnight, so two visits a year to the dentist is your best course of
action to catch these things early. After all, you don’t want those poor
Ondontoblasts to have to go through all that stress just to save you
from yourself, do ya’?

Odontoblasts and Fluorapitite. Your secret weapons in dental health. Oh, and your dentist as well! How could we forget?!